Paula's Story
by Christy - Flare
Summary: A flight-obsessed young girl has her dream come true as her mutant gene activates. How will she deal with this? At first, pretty well... Then things get complicated. Set before mutantkind is exposed to the general human population.
1. What's Happening?

A/N: This is my very first fanfic. After reading a lot of Lucky Me by Rui (MIA since last year but is back now, I think) and reading Violet Skies by Dryad Mage, I started coming up with my own ideas about how this kind of mutant would react. This OC is mine and noone else's! Anyways, here goes!

Disclaimer: Paula, her friends, and her family belong to me; nothing else does. The X-Men belong to Marvel. There probably will be some non-canon material because I haven't actually ever read real X-Men comics and my knowledge of what happened is limited to my reading of Wikipedia articles and watching the spin-off shows.

This story is set before humans learn about the existence of mutants. Also Rui's Lucky Me influences my ideas a lot, and I have her permission to use scenes and similarities from her story.

* * *

It was a beautiful day at Niagara Elementary, which was perfect, considering it was the last day of school.

It was also Graduation Day tomorrow for me and my Grade 8 class. It's a long story why middle school grades were in an elementary school, but basically the local high school had no room and this one had extra room. This is probably the only school in the whole of the U.S. that makes such a fuss about going out of Grade 8, probably because it's the last grade that the school has. Anyways...

Since the last exams were yesterday, today we were basically going to party around all day and rehearse our Graduation Day speeches and presentations.

"Paula, not again!" cried my best (and only) friend, Samantha (Sam) as I once again swiped her laptop and began Internet searching for the flight mechanics of birds for about the thousandth time that week.

"Lighten up, Sam, this is our last real school day together and you know I'll be moving to my grandma's in New York this summer so I can go to Salem High." I said as I typed and searched furiously for any new flight info I could find.

Ya see, my parents heard about the great reputation Salem High had for education standards, and since I had been able to pass everything throughout elementary school without much studying at all with A's and B's (except for Phys. Ed. and Music 'cause I suck at those), my parents decided that I needed more challenge for school so that I would be ready for university and life, so they've enrolled me there.

The thing is, they don't want to move, so they are sending me to live with my grandma until high school is finished and I can go to university. They hope that I'll be going to one close to home. I'd rather live by myself, but I'm only 14, so...

"But you're obsessed with this flight thing! Ever since last week, you've been interested! Sheesh! And I won't ever see you again! You'll be on the other side of the state!" she wailed.

"I'll miss you too, but maybe every so often I can take a plane to come visit," I said, giving her laptop back after finding nothing new about flight.

"That'd be awesome! Ok, let's go practice for tomorrow and then feast on any Cheetos we find!"

I grinned. "Oh yeah! We better hurry, or they'll be all gone!"

We both laughed at that and ended up stealing a bag of Cheetos and hiding it first before rehearsing again. At least no-one noticed. And we got our Cheetos. They were the crunchy kind too. Mmmmm...

X-X-X

Well, other than the fact that I was forced to wear a dress and have about fifty million things put in my hair (including mousse; it really makes my hair get dirty a lot faster than usual, and I really hate that stuff), Graduation Day went off without a hitch. Photos were good, too. The second I had a chance to leave, I started pulling out all of my hair pins because they were annoying and painful. I had to have help, and it took forever. Ah well.

The problems started the next day during an after-party of sorts I had with Sam at my house.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" I screamed, my bones feeling like they were on fire and my muscles all feeling sore and achy. I was doubled over in pain.

"Oh, no, Paula, not this again!" exclaimed Sam worriedly. This has been happening every so often for the past month. I didn't want to worry my parents too much, so I haven't told them yet. It's a good thing that they were out getting more pizza for us, though. These episodes always tend to pass in a few minutes and always either when I'm alone or when I'm near Sam and no-one else. It still hurt a whole lot, though.

I continued moaning for a few more minutes, then said to Sam, "Ok, I think it's over now." Then I limped over to the bathroom like I had to do every time this happened. Sam followed me (not inside!) to make sure I was really ok.

I won't go into details about what happened in there, but it wasn't pretty. It was also a bit weird. Ok, a lot weird. Ok, technically it's said very weird, but anyways...

Man, I musta lost about 50 pounds in there from how light I feel now. TO THE SCALE!

I've been kinda scared of the scale because I'm about 15-25 pounds overweight, last time I checked (a long time ago, like about 2 months), but I felt amazingly light now, so I charged over to the scale (with Sam right behind me asking questions which I barely answered). I pushed it on, waited for it to load, and stepped on.

I took one look at the weight it showed and had to repeat the process to make sure that I did it properly.

"HOL-uh-A CAMOLA!" I screamed (I don't swear, so I use some rather weird and funny-sounding replacements instead) as I looked at the displayed weight again.

From a rather hefty weight of 135 pounds, I now weighed a FREAKING 50 POUNDS!

When Sam saw this, she nearly had a heart attack. "Oh my go-" I gave her a look. "-sh! That is really just not normal here! The pain episodes were one thing, but this is getting to be too much! You should go see a doctor or something! That's just not healthy! You haven't been starving yourself, have you?" she asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Are you kidding me? I've been scarfing more food in the past month than I ever have in my life, practically! I'm surprised that I haven't GAINED another 20 pounds! Anyways, I feel fine! Better than I ever felt in my life! Maybe this is just some weird metabolism change or something. Somehow, I don't think a doctor would know what happened here anyways. Just don't tell anyone, ok? If I faint or something, I'll always be around people for the next month or so anyways, since my parents are taking me out for a while before sending me off to Salem Center. THEN you can go tell everyone. Until then, I'll be fine. It can't get any worse, right?" I said to her.

She didn't look too sure about that. "I suppose not. But don't say I didn't tell you so if anything happens! I'm your friend, so I won't tell even my parents, but I'll still worry."

"Thanks, Sam. I'm still a little freaked out here, but there's nothing really we can do, so might as well just calm down about it," I said with a sigh.

"Yeah, you've always been the calm one, though this is a bit of a stretch... I mean, you've gone from totally flipping out about losing 75 pounds in 2 months to totally calm in like 2 minutes! You got over it pretty fast!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you can't freak out about everything, I suppose. Let's just have fun, okay?" I told her.

"Fine." Ding-dong! "Ooh, your parents must be back with the pizza! Let's go!" she squealed, taking off towards the front door.

"Now who's getting over it fast?" I called after her, laughing, before following her down the stairs.

We had a great time for the rest of the day, and even the night, since it was a sleepover party at my place. No more problems for a long time. Well, my back started itching, and I had an interesting conversation with Sam, but that's about it.

X-X-X

Well, I had a lot of fun with my parents in the next month going everywhere around the city and beyond, practically. We even crossed the Rainbow Bridge on foot into Canada (we have our passports and it was only 50 cents a person to cross on foot), did some shopping in the nearest city, and walked all the way back across the Bridge again, arms full of new stuff, mostly chocolates. I really hate clothes shopping, since I have already enough clothes to last two weeks without washing them and can't fit anything else into my closet anyways. I don't care about fashion at all. I wear whatever I like. No low-cut shirts for me. I did find an outfit that looked really good on me, and it WAS Canadian, so I bought it.

Anyways, my back hasn't bothered me the whole time, except for a bit of itching, and I had gained a bit of weight, too. I am now about 70 pounds. Still really light, but better than 50 pounds! I also felt a lot stronger than before. A lot of the weight seemed to be in my back, though.

Well, I'll be leaving in about a week for my grandma's so I better pack my bags. Now that I'm back home again, I'm gonna start getting ready.

X-X-X

Aw, man! My back is itching like crazy now and it feels like my skin is splitting (softly and painlessly; it's a weird feeling)! I gotta check it out in the bathroom mirror.

I went and looked.

"AYO!" (I said this not too loudly; nobody heard me, thankfully). The skin on my back had split all the way down the middle and out to the side on the top and the bottom so it looked like an "I" on my back.

It started at around my shoulder blades (the top end) and ended around the small of my back. It hadn't actually split open, just the lines were there and nearly splitting open, from the looks of it. Well, it's not hurting or anything. Maybe it'll go away later or something. Or maybe Sam had a point during that sleepover conversation.

X-X-X

Ok, it's been a day since the first back splitting incident, and I've just come back from church (it was Sunday). My back now seems to be shifting underneath my skin. I can suddenly feel something just _being _under there. I wonder if this has something to do with my weight gain.

X-X-X

Ok, now something big is happening. It is Monday now and my back skin is _definitely _splitting now.

The surprising thing is that it doesn't hurt at all. And no blood, either.

The splitting is almost done, I think. Some kind of membrane is breaking. See, the skin first split on the outside, then on the inside. The membrane must have been in between the two splits.

It split.

Now I feel the need to push that inside thing out. Push, push, push...

Hey, something is coming out! I don't dare look yet. I am currently bent over my bed pushing this mass out of my back. The skin splits are becoming folds that are giving way to whatever was coming out. I had my suspicions of what it was, but I would only confirm it when it could finally be seen properly.

I closed my eyes again and concentrated one pushing and pulling this thing out. Oh, wait, there were _two _things coming out. It looks like Sam was right. My suspicions are rapidly getting more confirmed by the minute.

They're almost out! Come on, me, push and pull!

_Slide! Fwupp!_

They're out! Finally! That whole thing took about 5 minutes!

Now I just have to look to make sure they were what I thought they were.

I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head to look at my back.

Yup, I was right (ok, Sam had the idea first, but it's my back!).

I had wings.

This is totally awesome!

I have got to go call Sam.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know, I'm really bad at introductions. I've had ideas for the body of the story for such a long time, but I could never get the intro perfect. Updates might take a while since I have a ton of school work to do (I'm actually supposed to be doing it now, but I've been waiting too long to write this!).

There actually is a school named Salem Middle School High School that is very well known there and pretty good. I actually don't live in the U.S., so I looked up all the info I needed on the Internet.


	2. Exploring My Wings

A/N: I've updated! I only own my OCs, no-one else. Marvel stuff belongs to Marvel, not me. The italics section is a past conversation and stuff. Got the idea from various fanfics that did it, I think.

* * *

"WOOAAAHHHHH!"

CRASH!

THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP THUMPTHUMP!

Oh, crackers, my mom is coming up! I can't let her see these things or she'll totally flip out!

Ya see, I had been bent over my bed while pushing my wings out of my back. To stand back up, I pushed myself up, trying to compensate for the new type of weight on my back that was my wings.

I pushed too hard and, unaccustomed to having the weight of my wings outside my back instead of inside my back, lost my balance and fell over backwards.

Right into my chair, knocking it over and crashing to the ground with it. And landing on my wings, no less.

Hence the giant crash that sent my mother running up to see what happened.

Needless to say, I panicked.

My now sore wings are even buzzing with panic now!

Flipping myself over, I glanced over my shoulder at my wings and panicked even more at what I saw.

My wings, which were previously a gorgeous golden colour with light brown contouring the edges of my feathers, had now turned clear and seemed to be kind of _shimmering_. Not to mention that the bottoms of my wings were now _**in the floor**_! Nono, not _**on **_the floor, _**in **_the floor!

My wings had powers? Well, that was new. And totally unexpected.

But no time to think about this! My mom is coming up, and, though they are clear, my wings aren't exactly invisible, so I still needed to hide them as fast as possible.

I drew them as close to my back as I could (and as far out of the ground as I could manage) without phasing them _into _my back.

I then pushed myself really close to my desk so that I could stick my wings under its shadow so that they won't be visible (so long as they stay clear). I did all of this in about 2-3 seconds.

That's when my mom came bursting through the door.

"What happened? Are you all right, Paula?" she asked, worry written all over her face.

I thought fast and answered, "I just fell over backwards getting off my bed and crashed into my chair. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'll just sit here for a minute until the pain goes away." Hey, it's totally true, and I didn't have to say anything about my wings.

She looked relieved at this, but still asked, "Are you sure you're okay, sweetie?"

I rolled my eyes, trying not to show my panic on my face. "I'm fine, Mom. Really. You can go back to whatever you were doing now."

She raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything else except, "Okay, then, Paula. Just call me if you need me." Then she left.

When she was finally gone and in the basement again (my room is on the second floor, so she had to go down two flights of stairs to get back down there), I relaxed. Then I felt my wings solidify _into _the floor and my desk, so I panicked again, making them phase again.

My emotions seem to affect the colour of my wings. And the powers. Hmm... I wonder if I have any other emotion powers. Well, I didn't want to find out now, just in case I accidentally destroyed something. Anyways, I needed to stand up before I could relax and solidify my wings again.

I turned myself over and pushed myself to my knees. Then, I grabbed my desk and pulled myself up.

Then I made sure that my wings were above the floor and not inside something before finally relaxing, solidifying my wings and turning them back to their original golden colour with brown feather contours.

I then stood up completely and waited for my ear fluid to shift, making my balance adjust to the new weight from my wings, before taking a step forwards.

Yay! I can walk! That wasn't too hard.

I wondered if I should still tell Sam about this, now that I have wing powers. Then I remembered the conversation we had at our last sleepover.

X-X-X

_There was an interesting situation that night as we talked on our beds. I had slowly been shifting around on my bed and had at some point ended up _perching, _perfectly balanced, on the side of my bed. _

_Sam noticed this and exclaimed (not too loudly), "Paula, you're perching!"_

"_Huh? What?" I looked down at the way I was positioned on my bed and found that I was indeed perching. "Oh, well would you look at that!"_

_Sam gaped at me and said, "Man, you're turning into some kind of bird or something! First, the obsession with bird flight, then the super weight loss, then this! Next thing you know, you'll grow wings!"_

"_Well, that would actually be kind of cool, if that kind of stuff happened. I wouldn't need to use a plane anymore to come visit you! Not to mention I would be able to fly finally!" I said with a laugh._

"_Good point. If you do, by chance, grow wings like The Thing grew rock plates, tell me please! As freaky as that would be, I guess it would have it's upsides! Not to mention it would be kinda cool!" she said._

"_Don't worry about it. I promise. I'm kinda expecting it now, though. Oh, well, bedtime! I'm about to drop!"_

"_Ok. G'night P."_

"_Night, Sam."_

_And that was it for the night._

_Yes, we actually sleep at sleepovers!_

X-X-X

Remembering this promise that I made to Sam, I decided to tell her anyways. I'd have to have her come over here, though, so she could see them.

I went over to the house intercom box for the second floor and pushed the "Inside" button. "Hey, Mom, can I have Sam over one last time before I leave for Salem Center?" I said into it.

A few moments later, I heard, "What?" I repeated what I had said. "Sure, just make sure that she's available first," she replied.

"Okay, thanks, Mom!" I said back into the intercom. "You're welcome, sweetie." I heard back.

Yes! Now to go call Sam. I went back to my room and used my room phone to call Sam.

Ring-ring-ri-"Hello?" I heard Sam's voice say over the phone.

"Hey, Sam! It's me, Paula! Guess what? Remember that promise I made you last sleepover?"

A moment later, I heard her gasp on the phone. "You grew them? Really? Well, didja, didja, didja?" she squealed.

I laughed. "What do you think? Of course I did! Wanna come over and see? Just don't tell your parents about them, okay? Just say that I want to show you something and play with you one last time before I leave for Salem Center at the end of the week or something. And Mom says you can come over, but she doesn't know yet, so don't tell her either, please, okay?"

"Ooh, ooh, okay! I promise I won't tell anyone. I'll go ask my mom if I can come." There was a pause, and I heard Sam yelling her question to her mom and getting an answer back. "She says I can. Ooh, I'm so excited!" she squealed. (Yeah, I know, she's the hyper one of us two.)

Then I heard a click indicating that she had hung up. "Bye," I said to an imaginary Sam. She may be my best and only friend, but I will never understand that girl and her hyperness.

Well, while I wait for about half an hour for her to get here, I might as well check out my new wings.

I drew my right wing in front of me and grabbed it. I was sorta used to feeling my wings there, but it was still weird to actually feel myself touching them. I stroked it, feeling the incredibly soft feathers on them. I sat on my bed and spent another 5 or so minutes just stroking my wings.

I could hardly believe how soft my feathers were! And that this was actually happening! It was amazing! At my amazement, my wings turned purely golden and _glowed_! I guess that's another wing power I have.

I got off of my bed and started testing out how well my wings could move. I couldn't stretch them completely because they were so big, but I could turn them forwards to wrap around me, lift them up and spread them as much as I could in here, and move them in a lot of other flexible ways.

I also discovered that they were prehensile. The last foot or so on the bottom of each wing could curl like a hand in a thumbless mitten and grab things. I can even grab a pencil from my desk with them! It's not easy, though, and when I tried it, I ended up knocking over whatever was around it, but it's still pretty cool. The rest of each wing could curl enough to grab something big; I could probably hoist a human under one, though that may be stretching it.

As for how long my wings are and what my wingspan is, I'll have to wait for Sam to come over to measure them before I can know for sure. I'm guessing at 6-7 feet per wing.

I decided to look in my bathroom mirror to see what happened to my "I" split since my wings came out and pushed it open. If my wings were to suddenly disappear, the split would now look like the Roman numeral II. When my wings came out and my wing arms (what connects my wings to my back) spread out, my skin must have regrown in the space in between them. I still seem to have the flaps that my skin formed during the emergence of my wings. I wonder...

Nah, I'll test that theory out later.

I then checked my feathers. I seemed to have all of my primaries and secondaries already, but since I don't know how wings on a human are really supposed to look like, I can't be too sure.

I just hope that I can fly with these things. I can't wait to get into the air! Maybe I can try them out by asking my mom to let me go stargazing outside by myself and testing them out then when nobody is looking.

Oh, new problem. How the heck do I clean these things? I wondered if I could just dunk them in soapy water and rub them together before rinsing them off. That might mess up my feathers quite a bit, though, and I can't preen them without a beak (which I did NOT want to grow!), so I'll have to figure something out. Preening them by hand is theoretically possible, but I don't think that I could reach all of my feathers properly, and it would take forever to do all of them...

Sheesh! I better be able to fly with these things, or they will be more trouble than they are worth!

And another thing, how am I supposed to dress properly now? The idea here is to hide the wings, which is gonna be kinda hard if my theory about the skin flaps is wrong. I tried to bunch up my wings to my back as much as possible.

Hmm... If I put a shirt over this, the bulge could probably be seen from Mount Everest! This is gonna be a _slight _problem, methinks... Also, bras are gonna be hard to put on under my wings and the straps are probably gonna be uncomfortable (I had removed my bra and shirt when pushing out my wings, which was probably a good thing because otherwise I would have snapped the bra and ruined my shirt, and that would have been kinda hard to explain to my parents).

Ah, well, I gotta try anyways. Sam'll be over any minute now, and I can't be bra-less in front of her!

I managed. Oh, wait, how am I supposed to test my skin flap theory now? I'll have to unhook it...

DING-DONG!

She's here! I quickly pulled on a shirt over my wings so the whole street wouldn't see them and yelled to my mom, "I'll get it! You don't have to come up!"

I ran down the stairs to the door and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, there was Sam, thankfully without her parents with her (they were probably in their car; Sam must have insisted on it so they wouldn't see my wings, or in this case, the giant bulge in my shirt. I love that girl!).

I quickly opened the door and let her in. She looked at me with a big, happy face which fell when she failed to notice the bulge. I quickly showed it to her, and her face lit up again. I heard my mom start to come up the stairs, so me and Sam looked at each other for a second and booked it upstairs before she could see my bulge. She saw Sam for a second, though, and said hi to her. She said hi back and continued running.

Whew, that was close! My wings had phased in panic and went through my shirt. Sam hadn't noticed yet; maybe there wasn't enough light to make my now-clear wings visible. My shirt bulge had disappeared, though.

Maybe she was looking at the stairs instead of me when she was running up them or something. Probably a good thing, too; I didn't want her to freak out and fall down the stairs. Not only would that seriously hurt or kill my best friend, but it would also cause a crash that would send my parents running up to see (both my parents were in the basement, probably watching TV, but my mom is the one to freak out more often and run up. A fall down the stairs, though, would bring both of them up.).

I made it to my room and took off my shirt, made sure that my wings weren't in anything (including my bra), and relaxed, making them return to their natural golden with brown colour. Sam came into my room just in time to see my wings change colour.

Her eyes were wide when I turned to look at her. "Wow...," she said, "Your wings have powers! And they're gorgeous!"

"Yeah, thanks for noticing. They seem to change colour with my emotions. This seems to be their natural colour. So far, panic makes them clear and able to move through solid objects, which I call phasing, and amazement makes them turn purely golden and glow."

"Cool."

"My feathers are really soft, though. Wanna touch?"

"Really?" she squealed (again, yeah, she does that a lot...).

I nodded and extended one of my wings to her for her to touch.

"Oh, wow!" she said as she slowly approached my extended wing with wide eyes and reached out her hands to touch it. My wing twitched as she did. This startled her a bit, and I laughed.

"Go ahead. Touch it. It twitched because I'm not exactly used to things touching it yet, but I don't mind," I reassured her.

She then tentatively touched it again. Then she softly grabbed it and fingered one of my feathers.

"Oh, wow, they really are soft!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, but you can really feel it better if you stroke the wing. Especially if you stroke the top edge of it. It's amazing! Just don't stroke against the feathers, or it won't be nice for either of us. Especially me. I might accidentally whack you with it if you do," I warned.

"Haha, don't worry, I won't," she said. Then she took my advice and stroked the top edge of my wing. Then she stroked the feathers on the inside side of my wing again (all the stroking being done is with the whole hand, not one finger).

"Wow... This is so cool! Wow..." she kept saying, stroking my feathers the whole time, eyes wide with amazement.

I let her stroke away for a few more minutes before saying, "Uh, Sam, enough with the stroking for now. I wanna know how long my wings are, and I need you to help me measure them."

She snapped out of it and shook her head a bit to clear it before saying, "Oh, ok, then. Where's the measuring tape?"

"Downstairs on the big table. It's black."

"Ok, I'll go and get it."

She ran out of the room and went downstairs to get it. She found it pretty fast and came up with it in hand.

"Got it!" she said, panting a bit.

To measure my wings, I had go out into the hall to make room for my wings to spread completely and hold one end of the measuring tape to the part of my wing arm on each wing while simultaneously spreading my measured wing as much as I could.

Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I managed, though.

Each wing turned out to be 7 feet long. That's two feet taller than me (I'm 5 short little feet tall minus the wings)!

Measuring my wingspan was tougher. Fully spread, my wings took up nearly the whole hallway. I ended up having to lie on my back and have Sam tape one end of the measuring tape down on one end of one wing and measure the whole wingspan like that.

It wasn't pleasant squishing my wings underneath me like that, but it worked. My wingspan was nearly 15 feet!

I got up and rubbed my sore wing arms. My feathers were ruffling, and my wings had turned a kind of reddish orange at my annoyance.

Then I remembered that I still had to show Sam how prehensile my wings were.

"Hey, Sam, watch this!" I said and, when she was watching me again (in my room again), grabbed a pencil off of my desk with my wing "hand" and held it out for her.

Her eyes widened again, and she exclaimed, "Wow, they're prehensile! That's so cool! What other amazing things can you do with those wings of yours?"

I laughed and put the pencil down. "Well, other than hopefully fly, which I'm not gonna try now in broad daylight, nothing that I know of. Oh, wait, I have a theory about something. See these skin flaps on my back where my wings came out of?" I said, turning around and lifting my wings so that she could see them.

"Yeah?"

"Well, –––"

DING-DONG!

I wonder who that could be. Oh, no, my parents will probably want me to come down to greet them! This theory better work!

* * *

A/N: Guess who? And if anyone guesses what Paula's skin flap theory is, please message me, and I will be very impressed and amazed. Hope you liked it!


	3. Meeting the Professor

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I was a little stuck as to how to put down my idea. I also had a ton of stuff to do for my school. I kinda did this while doing my big project...

* * *

"Aw, come on, just tell me already, P!" cried Sam.

Well, I kind of had to tell her quick before that door opened and I'd have to go down. I could already hear my parents going up the stairs to the main floor. And I kinda might need Sam's help in testing this theory.

"Well, my wings came out of my back whole, so there must still be holes in my back where they were kept before they came out. The splits on my back where they came out of are still open. I think that I might be able to put my wings back in," I said quickly.

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh wow! That would be cool! Try it, try it, try it!" she squealed (again, man, does that girl ever calm down?).

"Well, if I don't try and succeed, I'm gonna have a hard time hiding my wings from anyone, so..."

"Good point. Well, get on with it! I wanna see!"

I sighed. "Ok, here goes!"

It was at that moment that I heard one of my parents open the door. "Hello, Mrs. Byrns (pronounced beernns)," said a very familiar voice, one that I've heard on TV many times from his lectures on genetics and other stuff.

"Professor Xavier! What an honour! Please do come in!" I heard my mom say excitedly. I was very into genetics and science in general, and this guy is a genius on pretty much all sorts of things. Naturally, I had my parents into it as well. So we all knew him pretty well from TV.

Upon hearing his name, though, I paled and my wings phased. Me and Sam looked at each other. Oh, I better hide these wings fast! I'd rather not give the guy a heart attack from seeing my wings.

I wondered why he would come here of all places. But I couldn't miss a chance to see him up close.

Then I heard my mom ask him why he had come. What he said shocked me.

"I would like to speak to you and your daughter about a very important matter concerning her. I assure you that nothing is horribly wrong with her, but I must speak with you all."

I gaped. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that he knew about my wings somehow, but that wasn't possible. Only Sam knew about them besides me. I hadn't told anyone else. I wondered what it was he wanted to say.

"Paula is playing with her friend now, but I'll call her down. PAULA! IT'S PROFESSOR XAVIER! COME DOWN PLEASE!" she yelled.

"JUST A MINUTE, MOM!" I yelled back.

I really have to get these wings hidden now. Here goes!

I relaxed to unphase my wings.

Then, I turned around, unhooked my bra (I kept it on!) to expose the splits, and spread my wings out a bit. I gave them a quick but soft flap (I didn't want to fly up and hit the ceiling) to loosen up the muscles and to gain firmer control over them. I then lifted them up and brought them close to me.

This was the tricky part. Using my prehensile wing "hands," I found my splits and tried to push them open enough to slip my wings through. I was having trouble, so I told Sam to help me open them up.

She did. It felt weird.

It turns out that they are actually flaps of skin that can nicely push aside to let my wings back in. Retracting my wings is just like sheathing a sword, except with wings, of course. I pushed my wings through the split-flaps and managed to get all 7 feet of each wing in.

It also turns out that my body has wing sacs that not only exist in my back but also go into my belly. My wings can also pass by each other in my wing sacs in the belly section. This is how I could fit my huge wings in there.

I checked with Sam to make sure that my wings were completely hidden and that the flaps had closed before re-hooking my bra and putting on my shirt again. Then, both me and Sam went downstairs to greet the Professor.

After agreeing to lie about the wings (shocker for me because I usually can't lie without it being obvious; this was an exception because nobody could know but Sam), of course.

They were in the living room (my parents and the Prof). As we walked in, they all looked up at me.

"The Professor wants to speak to us about you," my mom said, looking a bit confused as to why such a well-known man would suddenly pop up at our doorstep and talk to them about me.

"Your friend does not need to be here," said the Professor.

"Whatever I know, she knows. We're best friends. She'll find out anyways," I told him, my amazement at seeing him in person disappearing quickly as my eyes narrowed. I was pretty protective of Sam.

He gave us both a long, hard look before saying, "Very well, then, but she must promise to never speak of what she is about to hear to anyone, not even her parents."

"Well, Sam?" I asked her, knowing the answer already.

"Of course I promise, you guys! My lips are sealed!"

"All right, then. Mr. and Mrs. Byrns, you must promise also."

They nodded and said, "We promise as well."

"Good, now, Paula, have you had anything strange happen to you during the past month or so?" asked the Prof.

"Of course not, why do you ask?"

"Because you would not be the only one to which strange things have happened," he said calmly.

"What do you mean?"

"There are people on this planet with a certain mutation in their genes that grants them extra abilities, or powers if you would prefer that term. Normal people would not understand this and would fear these people, so they remain hidden. They are called mutants. I myself am one, and so are you."

"How can you know for sure?"

"Well, for one thing, I am a telepath."

Oh, man, he _definitely _knows about the wings now. And he probably heard that thought.

_Indeed I did._

Wah! He just spoke in my head. That was freaky and cool at the same time.

He smiled. I guess he heard that too.

"I can use a machine of my own invention to enhance my telepathy to find other mutants as well. This is how I knew of you being one. I run a school in Salem Center that teaches young mutants how to control their powers. Many have come and gone. Now there are only two students and nine teachers, including myself. I would like to invite you to come to my school. However, I would first like you to show your parents what you have already shown Sam here."

I looked over at my parents. My dad seemed to be taking this quite well. My mom, on the other hand, looked like she was trying not to say anything but still feared the professor overhearing her thoughts. I knew my parents pretty well. This behaviour was pretty typical for them.

I looked at Sam. She shrugged and said, "You've got to show them sometime."

"Ok, then, but I'll need you to get some scissors to cut holes in my shirt to let them through," I told her.

She went to get the kitchen scissors and cut slits into my shirt that were right above my skin splits. I hoped that I could get these wings of mine out again. Sam helped me unhook my bra and stood back.

I concentrated. I felt my wings inside of me still. Slowly, I pushed them out the same way I did it the first time they came out. First my wing arms, then the top sections of my wings, then my wing "hands."

I then flexed them and spread them out a bit before turning around to show my parents the full view of my beautiful golden wings (they were golden because I was happy to finally show them). I was a little nervous about how my mom would react though, and my wings responded to that by making white contours around my feathers.

My dad's jaw dropped and my mom screamed. Typical. The Prof sighed at my mom's reaction. Looks like he's seen _that _before. I knew that she'd get over it sooner or later.

"Can I touch them?" asked my dad.

"Of course! Prof, if you wanna touch them too, go ahead. Uh, mom, as long as you're not gonna rip any feathers off, you can stroke them. For crying out loud, they're wings! It's not like I can explode things or something. It could be worse."

I extended my wings for anyone to touch. My dad approached me a lot like Sam did the first time and stroked one of them. The Professor just patted it a bit. My mom, who had jumped behind a couch, slowly came out and patted it too. My dad was obviously having more fun than the other two.

"They're so soft!" he said, referring to my feathers.

"That's what I said!" exclaimed Sam.

"Yeah, with all the wowing and stuff," I teased.

"Well, they are pretty cool. They even change colour with your emotions and are prehensile, for crying out loud!"

"True."

I then proceeded to describe all of the abilities that my wings had to my bewildered parents, including the phasing wings. I even told my mom how I had been hiding them from her when she came up because of the crashing me and chair when I fell the first time.

From the looks on my parents' faces, they were going to fight about all of this the second I left. Speaking of leaving, his school is in Salem Center! So is Salem High! Maybe I could stay at his school!

_That's what you will be doing if you come. There is another winged mutant there who can teach you how to fly._

Again the Prof's voice in my head. And wow, another winged mutant? Yay!

The Professor smiled.

"My school is a boarding school, but, as it is not an actual normal school, Paula will still have to go to Salem High. Also, would it be okay if she were to leave today? I do believe that she is eager to get a chance to use her wings for flying. I have a jet waiting near the forest outside and I am sure that you can get a refund for her plane ticket as long as you give them a two-day notice. You could also inform anyone who was to originally pick her up that she is staying elsewhere."

My dad nodded. "The plane was supposed to leave in about 3 days, so if I call today, it should be fine. I also want my daughter to be happy. She has everything packed already," he said.

My mom, still in shock, just nodded and said, "Yeah, just go and learn to fly. Be careful!"

"Ok, then, lunch first, then we call Sam's parents to pick her up, I'll grab my bags, and then we'll go!" I said. "We'll also need to come up with a good excuse for what's happening."

"But I told my parents to pick me up around 3! Can't we wait 'till then?" asked Sam.

I looked at the Prof. He nodded.

"Okay," I said. "3 it is."

The Professor looked like he was concentrating. Then he looked up and said, "I've told the two people waiting in the jet to just roam around town until then."

"Okay, then. Come on, Sam!" I said and ran off upstairs again, Sam following.

X-X-X

Well, after lunch, movies in the basement, more fun with Sam, and a very loud fight between my parents, it was 3 o'clock, and Sam's parents arrived to pick her up. I sheathed my wings (I'm getting good at this!) and said goodbye after a hug when she went to leave.

In our time together today, we had come up with excuses and stories to tell people who weren't privy to this mutant stuff along with a code that we could use when talking on the phone, just in case someone was listening on the other line.

After about a half an hour, I grabbed my bags, said goodbye to my parents, and left with the Professor to the jet. I found it funny that me, with wings, was going to be flying in a jet because I couldn't fly yet.

I found a red-haired lady and a man wearing red sunglasses waiting in the jet for us. The Professor wheeled himself onto the jet with me following close behind. The ramp closed. My story has just begun.

* * *

A/N: Flying Paula coming really soon, I hope! And I never thought that getting reviews would be so much fun, so review if you like it, please!


	4. Meeting Everyone And?

A/N: Uh, is anyone but David D. Amaya still reading this? If so, please review or something. Anyways, here's the next chapter! I do not own "I Believe I Can Fly" or Marvel characters.

* * *

After the Professor and I got onto the jet and were secured in our seats (the Professor just buckled himself into his wheelchair and anchored it onto a special clamp on the floor), I was introduced to the two other people on the jet.

The redhead's name was Jean Grey, and the guy with the red sunglasses was Scott Summers. Jean was also a telepath who could also use telekinesis. Scott can shoot optic blasts from his eyes, but he needs his sunglasses or a special visor to control them.

One of the first thoughts I had after introductions was, _Wow, TWO telepaths! This should be interesting!_, quickly followed by, _Ooh, I can't wait for flying lessons!_

Noticing the two telepaths staring at me, I added for them to hear, _Do you MIND? (no pun intended) Telepathy is cool and all, but there _is _such a thing as overdoing it. Must you listen to every single thought I have? Yeesh!_

_Sorry, _they both said, then looked at each other briefly. The Professor continued, _but your excitement makes your thoughts loud to us. We were not intentionally listening in. Also, we must keep alert for any extremely loud thoughts because they may be cries for help. It is difficult to block out one person's thoughts while listening for anyone else's._

I sighed. _Fine. Could you at least stop staring at me? It's making me nervous._

_Sorry again. We will._

Thank you very much.

Scott seemed to have noticed that we were having a telepathic discussion because he looked a little bit put out for being left out of it. Aww.

Anyways, he announced that all the pre-flight preps were done. Then, he started up the jet, and we took off. He grumbled something about not being able to go full speed after the last incident with the military choppers. I don't think I wanna know.

Well, getting there might take awhile, since it's on the other side of the state. I might as well get all of my questions in.

X-X-X

In the half an hour we took before we got to the school (which was actually a mansion), I had asked the Professor about a million questions about genetics, the mutant gene, and the school. I also learned about all the other things telepaths can do besides read minds and send thoughts.

Apparently, the only reason that the Prof didn't wipe Sam's memory of my wings is because she genuinely intended to keep this secret (and he knew that from reading her mind, of course). He said that he was amazed at the closeness Sam and I shared and how much we trusted one another.

I explained that because both Sam and I had no other friends the day we met and were so much like one another (other than her hyperness), we became fast friends who understood each other very well and trusted each other without reservation. We told each other our deepest secrets. We were inseperable. I was already missing her.

When Scott announced that we were about to land, I thought of something.

_Hey, Prof, did you tell anyone else about my wings yet? Like the people from the school? _I thought to him.

_No, why?_

_I wanna be the one to tell them and surprise them._

_Ah, I see. Very well. I will let you tell them._

_Thanks, Prof! Wait, Jean, were you listening to that?_

_Yes. Don't worry, I won't say anything either. I already told Scott to shut up about it, too._

_Thanks, guys!_

_You're welcome. _(They both said this).

We landed. We all unbuckled ourselves and got out of the jet via ramp. My wings had been sheathed the whole time because it would probably have been uncomfortable sitting in my seat on the jet with them out and being squished between my back and the seat. They were just itching to come out now, but I held them in.

As soon as we got out, the front door of the school (mansion) burst open, letting 8 people run out to greet us.

I immediately saw who I was sure was going to be my flight instructor. He had blond hair, a red and white uniform, and two giant, white, feathered wings resting behind him. They were gorgeous!

I also saw two other people whose appearance drew my attention. They both had blue fur and fangs, but one was bigger, shaggier, and a lot more muscular, while the other one had three fingers on each hand, two toes on each foot, big golden eyes, and a tail that ended with a spade. He was running on all fours.

Despite his stereotypical (but not actually accurate, apparently) demonic appearance, he had a cross hanging from his neck. Oh, goody, a Catholic like me! Obviously more devout than me because I don't wear mine and actually nearly forgot to bring it with me. The bigger blue guy ran like an ape, on his knuckles.

Two other people I noticed were a woman with a streak of white in her hair and another woman with dark skin and pure white hair.

There was also a very short, gruff-looking man with sideburns, a young girl with dark brown hair in a ponytail, and a blond-haired guy who I can only describe as looking like a total goofball after he stopped running.

When the whole lot of them finally reached us, it was all questions.

"Is this the new mutant?" the gruff guy said.

"Hey, what's your power?" Goofball, this time.

"Ooh, ooh, let me see!" Ponytail girl was trying to see over everyone's shoulders.

"Now, now, everyone, give the new girl some space and introduce yourselves," said the Prof.

"Fine," they all said in unison. They seemed a bit confused as to who should go first, so the gruff guy sighed and stepped up.

"I'm Logan. I have a healing factor, meaning I heal myself all the time, an' I've got enhanced senses an' claws." He then demonstrated his claws, which came out of his knuckles and were made of metal. I jumped a bit, and some people laughed. Logan snorted and went back to the group.

Then the white-haired woman stepped up. "I am Ororo Munroe. I can control the weather."

Goofball then stepped up. "I'm Bobby Drake. I make ice." He then made an iceball in his hand.

The woman with the white streak in her hair stepped up. "Ah'm Rogue. Ah have supah strength, Ah'm invulnerable, Ah can fly, and Ah can absorb life energy, memories, and powers of anyone whose skin touches my own. Ah can't control it, so Ah have to cover up all the time to avoid absorbing everyone around me."

Ponytail girl stepped up. "Hi, I'm Kitty Pryde. I can phase through solid objects." Hey, just like my panic wings!

Shaggy fur guy stepped up. "I am Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy. I have extra strength, agility, and look like this." He motioned at himself.

Younger blue guy nervously stepped up. "I am Kurt Vagner. I have extra agility, a prehensile tail, I can stick to walls, I can teleport, and I look like zis." He looked down and spread his arms a bit to indicate his appearance. His hair shifted away, revealing pointed ears. "I am sorry eef I startled you with my demonic looks," he said sheepishly.

"Nah, you look more like an elf to me now with those pointed ears of yours, you don't have horns, and your cross doesn't seem to be burning you, so that's a good sign," I said jokingly. He smiled. "And anyways, demons are deceptive fallen angels, so I doubt they actually look like the stereotypical versions," I finished.

Finally, my soon-to-be flight instructor stepped up. "I'm Warren Worthington the third. I can fly using my wings." He then spread his wings out to show them, but didn't fly. Aww. I wanted to see.

They all looked at me expectantly.

I gave them a mischievous smile. "I'm Paula Byrns, and I-" Here, I stopped, closed my eyes, and concentrated. I then slowly and deliberately pushed and pulled out my wings and spread them. "-can do this," I continued, eyes now open. I gave my wings a nice stretch, as they had been cooped up inside of me for so long. I liked them better outside of my body than inside.

Lots of oohs and ahs ensued, especially when my wings changed from their natural colour to purely golden at my pride and happiness. All my happy emotions seem to cause them to turn purely golden.

Different shades, though. This time, it was really bright.

I then showed them the prehensility of my wings by making 'fists' with my wing 'hands' and explained my wing powers.

"But I don't know how to fly yet, since I just got them this morning, so someone will have to teach me," I finished, folding my wings into their normal resting position behind me and looking over at Warren.

Everyone followed suit and stared at him.

His wings drooped a bit, and his face was one of surprise at being suddenly jumped with a new job.

"Would everyone stop staring at me? Of course I will teach her, as I _am _the only flier here with wings, though I wish that _someone _would have warned me a bit earlier," he said, giving a slightly annoyed look to the Professor, feathers ruffling.

The Prof shrugged and said, "Well, Paula wanted to keep her wings a surprise, so I respected her wishes."

Warren then looked at _me_.

"Hey," I said, "I don't think it would have made a difference. You would still have been surprised. You probably would have told everyone and ruined the surprise, too."

"Hmph."

"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking, but when's my first lesson? My wings have been itching to properly flap for over an hour." As if to confirm this, my wings twitched a bit.

"Well, I was hoping for tomorrow, but if you're that eager to fly, I could give you a basic lesson right after I check that your wings can support you in the air. That I can do now, if you want."

"No kidding! Go for it! I've been wondering myself if my wings will allow me to fly."

"Ok, then, spread your wings out completely. Hank, get the measuring tape."

I spread my wings out, like he said, but I said, "No need for the measuring tape. My friend helped me measure them. They are each 7 feet long. My wingspan is nearly 15 feet. I myself am 5 feet tall, weigh 50 pounds without the wings, and weigh about 70 pounds now with them."

"Well, that's good. The measurements seem to be right," he said, then looked confused. "Wait a minute, did you say your friend helped you measure them? As in, a non-mutant friend?" Here, he looked a little worried.

"It's all right, Warren, I've met this friend of hers and found her quite trustworthy of keeping our secret," said the Professor.

"Yeah, her name's Sam. We've been best friends since kindergarten. We have no other friends," I confirmed.

Warren looked relieved. "All right, let me see those wings of yours." He then came up to me and looked at my wings, circling around me to get a better look at all of the feathers.

"Can I touch them?" he asked.

"Of course."

He touched a feather. "Whoa, this is really soft!" he exclaimed.

"Yup, I know! Anyone else wanna touch?"

Everyone ran over to see. But when Rogue took off one of her gloves, everyone looked at her in surprise.

"As long as Ah don't touch the skin underneath the feathers, it should be fahn," she said.

For about 5 minutes, everyone was stroking and feeling my wings and feathers. Then, Warren chased them off so that he could finish his examination of my wings. Probably a good thing, too. My feathers seem to attract a lot of touching. Well, what can you do? After a lot of feeling and bending of feathers, a few wing movements that he asked me to do, and a feeling of the muscles in my wings, he stepped back.

"Well," he said, "your feathers are soft, but stiff enough for flight, and your muscles seem to be powerful enough to get you into the air and stay there, regardless of how heavy your wings are. You should be able to fly."

"Well, only one way to find out!" I said excitedly.

"All right. Watch me and listen. Spread and lift your wings like this, –" Here, he showed me how to do it right, and I copied him. "– then bend your knees. Ground takeoffs are generally more difficult than glide-offs, but if you can do this, I can see just how much power you actually do have in your wings."

I copied him and bent my knees.

"Ok, then, simultaneously jump and flap down with everything that you have, like this!" he said and demonstrated by doing as he had said and taking off. "Remember to keep flapping until you are this high in the air at least, then glide like this."

I watched his entire demonstration very closely. Wow.

When he landed a few seconds later, he said, "Ok, now you try it."

I first did a few practice bounces without leaving the ground to get my wings coordinated with my legs.

Then, I brought my wings up, bent my knees, and, as I jumped, flapped my wings down with all my might.

I must have shot up at least 9 feet into the air. Several people, including Warren, whistled.

Of course, I was so elated at _being _in the air that I forgot that I was supposed to keep flapping and promptly fell. As I fell, I realized my error and began frantically flapping around, awkwardly staying about a foot off of the ground and being unable to maneuver until my brain decided to register the need to panic, and I, well, panicked, making my wings phase.

Everyone gasped in surprise (they knew that I could do it, but they hadn't seen it yet). Since my wings weren't solid, I promptly dropped, closing my eyes.

I suddenly and unexpectedly stopped about an inch above the ground. I opened one eye, and then the other. Then, I looked up.

I saw Jean with her hand out in front of her, concentrating. She must be using telekinesis. I was gently put down on my feet.

I calmed down, and my wings solidified, returning to their natural colour. I then tried takeoff again, this time remembering to flap.

I met with better results. Instead of falling, I climbed into the air, getting higher, and higher, and higher... Wow, this is amazing! I'm flying, kind of. I'm only flying up, not forwards. Hmmm... I wonder how to do that.

I decided to hover a bit by dropping a bit, then flapping once, dropping and flapping, over and over again.

When I looked down, I saw Warren standing there with his mouth hanging open. "You're hovering!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah," I yelled down (I was still a bit high up). "All you do is stay upright, drop, and flap. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

"It took me forever to learn how to do that properly!" he wailed.

"Well, I'm just doing it. It might help that I saw you doing it. Could you please show me how to thrust forwards properly again?"

"All right." He still looked a bit put out.

He then launched himself up again and showed me. I copied. Hey, this is fun! I feel so free up here now! Instead of gliding back down, I decided to see how far up I could go. I climbed and climbed and climbed, going faster and faster and faster.

I was nearing the clouds. I could still breathe up here and didn't really mind the cold. In fact, I barely felt it. As the wind picked up, I felt something snap over my eyes just under my eyelids. Hey, I have inner eyelids! Cool!

Wow, now I'm really flying!

Warren was following me. Oh well. I don't care. I'm just having fun up here!

I am now flying high above the clouds. Wow, what a view!

It's getting harder to climb. I'll bring an altimeter next time and push myself then to see exactly how high I can go.

I leaned to my right to turn and hovered a bit to wait for Warren.

When he came, I exclaimed, "This is amazing! I have got to do this more often!"

"Yeah, I know. I love flying, too. Let's go back, and we can land on the roof. Then, I can show you a glide-off. Then, we'll have to get you into the lab so that we can see exactly what your mutation has done to you. For example, we can find out how exactly you fit those wings inside of you."

"Ok!" I said excitedly.

"When I land, watch how I do it."

"K."

We then flew all the way back down to beneath cloud level and aimed for the roof. I watched Warren land by straightening up in the air and flapping to create enough drag to land before alighting on the roof perfectly.

My landing was a bit clumsier, as I ended up running a bit in landing, but it was still a landing.

"Now, to do a glide-off, just jump off of the edge of the roof and thrust forward with your wings. Then just keep them spread to glide. To climb, just flap your wings like you did earlier."

He showed me. I copied. I went over to the edge of the roof, spread my wings, jumped off forwards, and flapped. I kept them spread and glided. It was a bit clumsy, as I kept tilting to one side a lot, but it was gliding nonetheless.

Hey, it's my first time! I'm not gonna be perfect. Well, technically I was sort of gliding when I was above the clouds when I had to turn, but I had already been in the air for a while. This was gliding when just jumping off of a roof. The air was different down here, too.

I didn't want to land on the ground just yet, though, so I started climbing and flying around for a bit.

_Hey, Professor, is there anyone non-mutant within earshot of here? _I thought for him to hear.

After a pause, he responded, _No. Go ahead. I know what you want to do._

I smiled. Then I flew up really high, and, as I flew around, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "I'M FLYING! I'M FLYING LIKE A BIRD! WAHOOOOOOOEY!"

I then proceeded to sing the chorus to "I Believe I Can Fly."

I soared at the appropriate point in the song on an updraft that I happened upon.

After what seemed like at least 15 minutes in the air, I decided to land. Warren had already landed a while ago. I glided down and landed clumsily again. My wings were literally glowing golden light as I did. They had been glowing while I was flying as well.

I feel amazing! I could stay up there in the air for hours, it feels like! I'm not tired one bit!

Now, I have to go to the lab, like Warren said. They have a lab? Well, the Professor _does _live here, so I guess that he has to have _some _place to do genetic research and stuff. Also, Hank called himself Doctor, so he probably needs a place to do lab stuff or medical stuff, depending on what his Doctor title means. Could be both. He sounds smart.

I gave my wings a stretch and folded them again (whenever I say folded, I mean that I just let them rest behind me).

"Well, I suppose it's lab time now, like Warren said up there," I said.

Everyone looked at Warren.

"What? She isn't flying away or looking scared or anything!" he said, his feathers ruffling.

"Well, I'll get to learn more about my mutation. Up above the clouds, I found out that I have inner eyelids, can breathe without any problems up there, and barely feel the cold at all. If I can find out more stuff, that would be cool," I said.

"Hmmm..." said Hank, looking thoughtful. "Your mutation is a lot like Warren's, it seems. Your body seems to be adapting solely to winged flight. Would you mind if, when we arrive in the med lab, I take a blood test?"

Ugh. A blood test. Well, might as well just get everything over with so that I can get back to flying.

"Yeah, sure, do whatever," I told him, my wings already turning green with white feather edges at my disgust and uneasiness at the idea of having a blood test. A tiny bit of irrational fear, too, if the white edges are accurate.

"You could have either Jean or the Professor deaden the pain and discomfort telepathically, if you wish," he said.

That certainly would make it better. I looked at Jean. For some reason, I'd feel more comfortable with her in my head than the Prof. Probably because she's younger than him and because I see her as more equal to me than the Prof. I respect him a lot. It would feel a bit weird having him mess around in there.

She caught on and nodded.

"All right, are we going to go in or what? I'm gonna go flying again if we just stand around all day," I said, my wings turning reddish orange in annoyance.

"Yes, yes. Come along everyone," said the Prof.

Then we all headed into the mansion.

* * *

A/N: Well? How was it? Review if you like it, please. Oh, and I won't be mentioning religion much in the future; it was just kinda thrown in there this time 'cause I know that Kurt is very religious. No offence intended to anyone. And, yeah, this is a really long chapter.


	5. Figuring Things Out

A/N: Man, it's been one thing after another this summer and then university and other crazy stuff! You'd think I'd have time at least during the summer, but nooooo! Grrr... Anyways... Yay! More readers! And reviews! Oh, wait, do I see a flame? Well, look at that! So it is! Sheesh, if you don't like the format, you don't need to read it. And you don't have to be so harsh about it. Blue Stem Cell actually gave a good constructive review. These are much more appreciated than flames. Please refrain from flaming. Oh, and Demon Lover, as far as I know, Warren doesn't have inner eyelids, just enhanced eyes that can withstand high winds. Paula has the standard set of abilities needed for flight, just like Warren, and a lot of extras. I'm not done with her powers yet!

Also, I'm trying to put in some flaws and problems, and there is a limit to at least one of her powers. I already know what all her abilities will be and how they are connected. No random powers to fit the story. You might see a bit of a trend soon. Also, a bunch of her abilities will be pretty much useless most of the time, so... Not to mention the giant problem she'll hit when she gets to school... As much as I want to avoid Mary-Sue, I also want to avoid So-Pathetic-It's-Painful Sue.

She is not invincible and never will be, trust me on this one. Future plot points are already in my head. No saving the day either. She'll be just like any of the other X-Men.

Also, sorry it took so long to update (if anyone cares, that is), but as you may soon see, this became quite a long chapter.

For those who want an idea of how she looks, check out my profile! Add a potbelly and a flatter chest and a slightly inflated look... I can't draw, so I tried Marvel's Superhero creator thingie. Unfortunately, it's Marvelised and can't really be added to at all...

* * *

"I'll take the jet to the hangar." said Scott. They have their own hangar? They would... but I don't see one. Ooh, hidden secret hangar! This is so superhero type like on TV! Yeah, they told me basically that it's a superhero school, but you didn't have to be a superhero if you didn't want to be.

I think I'll wait to see how bad I suck at fighting before I decide.

Things just get cooler and cooler around here, don't they, though?

The rest of us entered the mansion.

"Wow!" I breathed.

This place is amazing! It's so big! There's even enough room to fly! Yup, I am now completely obsessed with flying.

"Not yet, Paula," said the Professor. Telepaths. This may take a bit of getting used to. I really need to learn how not to shout my thoughts. Ah, well, when they say 'not yet,' it means that eventually it will happen. I can hardly wait. Indoor flying...

The first thing I noticed was the giant flight of stairs leading to the second floor. Ha, a _flight_ of stairs, and I had just been thinking of indoor flight.

I wonder where the lab is.

And what do I do with all of my bags?

The Professor must have heard that, because he suddenly said, "We will all help you bring your bags up to your room, Paula. Fliers, take a bag and bring it up."

Rogue, Jean, Storm, and Warren were apparently all fliers (I knew Rogue and Warren were, but not Jean and Storm), because they all flew their way up the stairs with a bag.

"Not you, Paula!" shouted the Prof as I spread my wings.

Too late.

I was already in the air.

Without thinking, I copied how Warren did it and flew up as well in five flaps, carrying my last (fairly small) bag. I guess the second I heard the word "flier" from the Prof, some part of my brain went, "Fly!," so I flew.

And being unexperienced banged my wing on the railing trying to turn, missed my landing, and tripped on the top step, falling flat on my face. I only slid down one step before gaining some footing.

It was when I got up groaning and shaking myself off that I noticed everyone staring at me. I looked down at the Prof and saw him with a 'what did I tell you' look on his face.

I blushed, my wings turning as pink as my cheeks in embarrassment.

"Heheh, whoops, sorry! Couldn't help it. Copied Warren automatically..." I said.

The Professor sighed. "It's all right, Paula. Just please refrain from flying indoors again until Warren actually teaches you how to do it. I do not want you to accidentally break anything," he said.

"Ok," I said. For added measure, I sheathed my wings.

This seemed to impress a few people, despite it still taking a few minutes.

Warren said, "Hey, you seem to be pretty good at retracting your wings! Why is that?"

"Well, I call it sheathing, and before I left my house, I played with Sam for a few hours. During that time, she insisted on seeing me sheath and unsheath my wings, so I got some practice there. It took about half an hour for her to kind of get tired of it, and I kept getting dizzy due to my ear fluid shifting every time I sheathed and unsheathed them. That was to make my balance reajust. She still insisted on seeing it. But it's all good." I replied.

"Cool."

Well, they're in now, so no flying for a while. It still feels weird to have them sheathed. Now we just have to bring all this stuff to my new room, wherever that is.

Then I remembered that now I had to actually walk.

After flying for so long, it feels weird to walk again.

Sure, I had walked to get into the mansion, but that was only about 2 steps or so (I had landed right outside the door).

I awkwardly started walking a bit before stopping.

"Walking feels weird," I said.

Kurt and Logan snickered from downstairs. I heard a sort of snort from Bobby.

"Hey!"

Then the rest of the people came up. The Prof went up on a ramp that formed on the stairs at the push of a button on his wheelchair.

Kurt teleported in a big puff of smoke and a 'bamf' noise. His smoke smells like sulfur. Brimstone. Really can't have helped his demon image thing, can it?

Now that everyone and all of my bags were upstairs, we were ready to head to my new room. The Prof led the way.

It still felt weird to walk. Heck, it still felt weird having wings, but I'm still not complaining.

After walking past several bathrooms and other people's rooms, we finally stopped at the last bedroom.

There was a room at the end of the hall with a TV and couches.

"Well, here we are. This is your new room, Paula. Take a look around if you wish," said the Prof.

I did.

And promptly dropped the bag that I was holding.

"Wow!" I exclaimed.

This room, I mean, MY room, is huge! It's about twice as large as my old one at home!

It had a huge bed up against the wall (which is good, since I usually sleep snuggled up to a wall), a vanity desk nearby (like I'd ever use anything but the mirror and brushes), a huge closet in the right hand corner of the room, two dressers, a bedside table with a lamp and alarm clock, and a work desk with shelves, a CD holder, and a new computer with speakers.

There was also a big window with a balcony in there.

This room is perfect, especially for one with wings like me!

Hoo boy was I gonna have fun at this place! Flying out of windows, flying above the forest, flying a lot with Warren...

In any case, I'll probably be using these wings of mine a lot around here.

Man, I really must be really obsessed with flying, 'cause every time I see a window, gliding point, or anything that looks like sky, it's the first thing I think of! Oh well. After a lot more flying, I'll probably be less obsessed.

I picked up my bag and dropped it again further inside the room. I then walked to the middle of the room. Then, I slid my wings out and spread them. I had lots of room to do so. Ahh! A room in which I can spread my wings without knocking anything over! I'm really starting to like this place.

I gave them a few short flaps and a stretch.

Everyone holding a bag dropped it off inside my new room.

I folded my wings and went over to the vanity desk to look at my hair in the mirror. Since I had been flying, my hair was probably a little messed up, so I wanted to fix it up.

I grabbed one of the brushes on the desk and looked in the mirror to check out my hair.

Yup, definitely messed up. It wasn't too bad, though, but it still needed a brush. Something was a bit different about my face, though...

Then it hit me.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed.

"What? What?" came some concerned calls from a few people.

"My zits are gone! And so are all my scars!" I replied after checking myself over again.

"And that's a bad thing because...?" said Bobby.

"It's not, but it's still surprising!"

"Hmmm... This is interesting. Maybe we should head to the lab now so we can figure out what is going on here," mused Hank.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I don't want to be surprised by anything else anytime soon. Not about my mutation anyways," I replied, "Just give me a second here."

I gave my hair a few brushes and then headed out of my new room.

Walking doesn't feel so awkward anymore.

When we got to the stairs again, I stood on the edge of them and looked over at the long way down. My wings twitched. I gave the Professor a pleading look.

He sighed and said, "All right. Warren, show her how to do it. Paula, this is the last time you fly indoors today."

"Aw, come on. Can't I just fly up and down the stairs at least?" I pleaded, backing up to give Warren some space.

"No. You didn't even manage the first time properly."

I pouted. He had a point. Then I got an idea and smirked.

The Prof gave me a suspicious look but didn't say anything.

I guess that means I'm allowed!

"Flying down the stairs is just like doing a glide-off, except you have to flap a little harder to land, or you'll fly straight into the door," said Warren, spreading his wings. "Actually, for safety, Jean, could you please open the door?"

She nodded and concentrated, opening the door telekinetically.

Warren then demonstrated how to properly fly down the stairs. I tried to copy him, but couldn't flap hard enough to stop properly and ended up flying right out the door.

I was actually quite low when I flew out the door and had to pull in my wings a bit so that they wouldn't hit the open doors, so I was pretty much pointing down when I got out.

It's a very good thing that there are steps outside the door, otherwise I would have smashed headfirst into the ground. As it was, I ended up flapping frantically in an attempt to gain enough altitude to then attempt a safe landing.

After gaining about 15 feet, my brain yet again decided to register panic, making my wings phase and me drop.

I quickly became thoroughly annoyed with my wings for phasing at the most _inopportune_ time, which made them turn reddish-orange and solidify _just_ in time for me to flap and_ not _crash into the ground.

However, I flapped a bit badly, which made me flip around in the air, freaking me out and phasing my wings again.

AARRGGGHHH! Will these wings _ever_ stop doing that? Bad timing! _Bad_ timing! Grr... Stupid things...

They solidified again at my annoyance, and I tried to keep myself annoyed so that they wouldn't phase again, hopefully.

Nevertheless, I ended up repeating this process at least five times before finally being able to gain some decent altitude. It was a good thing, too, since I had almost reached the gates of the mansion and would have crashed into them if I hadn't climbed in time.

I turned sharply to head back to the mansion. I flipped again. This time, I wasn't so panicked, so I didn't drop so much. I kept going. As I got closer to the mansion, I heard laughing. Then I saw that Bobby, Kitty, and Kurt were all at the door and had probably seen the whole thing. Bobby was laughing his butt off, Kitty was just smiling and trying not to laugh, and Kurt was snickering.

I gave them an evil smile, picked up my speed, and yelled, "Incoming!"

Their eyes widened and they quickly dove out of the way. It was my turn to laugh.

In any case, I ended up flying back through the door again and landing in my usual running landing just before the staircase, meaning I touched the ground just inside the door and stopped just outside the steps. I was lucky I landed half-decently.

"Hmmm... Needs work," I said. "Ah, well, lab time now, I suppose."

The Prof led the way again. This time, we headed behind the stairs to a secret door that was revealed when a hidden panel was flipped open and pushed by the Prof.

Cool.

The secret door hid an elevator that took us all down a couple of floors. But only after the Prof put his finger on a scanner pad to activate it.

When we all got out of the elevator, we walked down a hallway and ended up in what definitely was the lab. It also seemed to serve as a medical bay, though the medical equipment was on the other side of the room. On this side of the room, there were all sorts of chemicals, tubes, and scanners. Wow.

Hank showed me to one of the beds on the medical side of the lab and made me sit on it.

When I saw the needle come out, I paled, and my wings turned white.

That means it's blood test time.

I looked over at Jean.

She caught on and came over pretty fast. She sat down beside me and put her hand on my forehead as Hank started to swab my arm.

I closed my eyes. I felt a buzz spread through my head, and I couldn't feel or think anything.

I opened my eyes as Jean took her hand away, and everything cleared.

Woah, that was weird!

Jean raised an eyebrow at that and just shook her head.

Well, wadidja expect? Wow?

She snorted.

I raised my eyebrow at_ her _this time.

I looked at my right arm and saw no mark. I looked at my other arm and saw no mark. I looked at Hank and gave him a confused look after seeing him holding three vials of blood in his hands.

Noticing my confusion, he said, "It appears that you have a healing factor, my feathered friend. The wound caused by the needle vanished the second I pulled it out."

"Cool!" I replied.

I then leaned back against the wall at the head of the bed and let my eyes shift out of focus as I waited for Hank to finish putting the blood through various scanners and other machines.

What I saw caused me to jump a bit, a "Wah!" to escape my lips, and my wings to shoot out to the side, luckily not knocking anyone or anything over, though my left one did clip Hank a bit.

I was too startled to notice.

What I saw was waves of golden colour all over the air. When I jumped in surprise, the waves turned white. The waves were moving and shifting around, like... currents?

My eyes shifted back to normal focus after being shocked like that. The waves disappeared.

"What happened?" everyone asked in unison.

"I have no idea."

After a short pause, Jean said, "I think you've just discovered a new power, Paula. I'm guessing what you saw were air currents. They seem to change colour to match the colour of your wings."

She must have read my mind. Not that I care. I was expecting her to, anyways, so... ya...

"Jean, you should not have read her mind without permission. It is not polite and is an invasion of privacy that you must avoid," scolded the Prof.

I replied, "You know, I may have given you the wrong impression on the jet, but I don't really care if you read my mind or not, so long as you don't overdo it, find or reveal anything too personal, or start finishing my sentences all the time. Or stare at me. That's just creepy. And I think that Jean did the right thing, as I probably wouldn't have be able to describe what I saw accurately to help everyone figure it out anyways. And if you're worried about my privacy, don't be. Just don't tell anyone anything personal that you might accidentally hear. I feel I can trust you to do that."

"Of course, Paula," said the Prof. Jean nodded in agreement. "Just don't make a habit of not talking when you are around us simply because we can read your mind. Not everyone here can do so, so you must respect that," he continued.

"Thanks, and fine," I replied, then added, "Hey Hank, sorry about hitting you there. How goes the testing?"

"No harm done, my feathered friend. None of the vials or machines were damaged. I will have the results for all of my tests in a few minutes, as the blood tests are merely rudimentary and not searching for anything in particular. I would like to take an X-ray of you to see how similar your bone structure is to Warren's. I would also like to run you through another scanner to determine if your organs have changed and how your wings look like on the inside. Is that alright?" he answered.

"Yeah, sure. Where do I go?"

He showed me two machines. I spent about 5 seconds in the X-ray machine and about 15 in the other machine. After that, I sat back down on the medical bed and tried to activate my new power. I think I'll call it air-sight, since I'm basically seeing the air and how it moves.

After a few minutes, I got the hang of it. Kind of. I can turn it on, but keeping it on is tricky. I'll need a bit more practice to get this eye-shifting part under control. Anyways, this is pretty cool. This is gonna help me when I fly, that's for sure. It's always good to know if there is a downdraft ready to blow you down to the ground sitting right in front of you or if there is a beautiful updraft ready to send you up really high waiting just a few feet away in the air. It'll definitely make flying more fun and a lot easier. I had not been looking forward to learning how to feel the differences in the air. No worries now! I can see the air!

I then watched as Hank pored over the results that came out of a computer. All of a sudden, he looked at one paper, then the other, then back at the first one again.

I almost laughed when he started running around from computer screen to computer screen to microscope to paper results and to everything else in the room that held records of test results.

"What is it, Hank?" asked the Prof.

"Amazing, just amazing..." was all he could say. Hoo boy.

After who knows how long, he finally stopped and looked at me all excited.

"Your blood contains some extremely amazing enzymes! I have never seen such magnificent little things in my life! They have completely obliterated all of the fat previously attached to your arterial walls and continue to dissolve all of the unneeded waste in your blood as we speak! I must see if I can duplicate them and use them for anything else!"

Man, he is really excited about all of this. Not that I blame him. That is definitely pretty cool. If this means that I don't produce any more fat, I can eat whatever I want to and not worry about my weight ever again!

It took him a while to calm down about it, because he had to look at the blood some more and store it in some special place, but when he did, he was ready to tell me about what the other results said.

"Well, aside from your astounding blood enzymes, you have hollow and likely nearly indestructible bones, just like Warren. You also have rapidly increasing space in the sacs that hold your wings when they are sheathed. It will become easier for you to sheathe your wings as time goes on. Your wing sacs are also stiff, which is why you still appear to have a small potbelly. Even with your wings out, the section of wing sac in your belly keeps its shape."

He paused here, and I nodded to indicate that I was taking this all in well. He continued.

"Your metabolism is at peak efficiency, and so are all of your muscles, just like Warren. The blood enzymes I found also dissolve the substance which makes your muscles tired and sore after exercising too much, so you will have greatly increased endurance."

YES! No more sucky Phys. Ed marks! Now I can run for pretty much as long as I want and won't be out of breath! I probably won't like running because flying is so much better, but this is still pretty cool. No more dreading of the Phys. Ed classes.

"Your liver is almost non-existent, and your kidneys have lost their blood cleaning systems, likely due to the function of your new enzymes."

"To accommodate for your growing wing sacs, all of your organs other than your stomach, heart, lungs, and brain seem to be shrinking and becoming hyper-efficient. You have absolutely no excess fat anywhere in your body, and the fat you do have is what keeps you from feeling the cold at high altitudes. Your skin has also changed to be more resistant to cold. Also, your lungs are more efficient than a bird's, which is why you can breathe without problems, even above cloud level. And they've changed to be exactly like bird lungs. Your rib cage now holds all your major torso organs other than the intestines and colon, which have also shrunk and are likely super-efficient. You basically have a large cavern in your body that is rapidly filling with wing sac. You also have support bones around your chest to hold it in place.:

"What about my wings?" I asked.

"Ah, yes. Those magnificent wings of yours. I was just about to get to those. Your muscles are surprisingly well-developed. It seems like your wings waited until they were fully grown and feathered before they emerged. I wonder why that is. Usually mutations appear violently or suddenly and uncontrollably. They also tend to appear in extremely stressful situations and around puberty. You have most definitely reached puberty. Have you been under any extreme stress within the last two months?"

"Well, I was a bit stressed about being overweight, but mostly I was obsessed with flight, which could be some type of stress, I guess. As for the violent appearances of mutations, every so often for a month starting about two months ago, I got these burning pains in my bones and aching muscles, after which I would have to go to the bathroom. Umm... weird stuff came out. I'm going to assume that those times were my body suddenly rejecting all of my inner bone mass, toughened my muscles out, and burned off all of that extra fat. That's when I went down to 50 pounds. In the month after, I went up to 70 pounds, which is what I am now. I'm guessing that that was when my wings started growing inside of me."

"You are most likely correct. Obsession can indeed produce stress. Now that you are able to fly, your anxiety about not being able to fly can be relieved."

"I'll still need to go on a few more long flights to completely get it out of my system, though. Remember, I've been wanting to fly for months. I'm likely going to be using these wings of mine a lot for the next long while. Anything else?"

"Ah, yes. Your healing factor and wonderful blood enzymes are produced by glands that are right under where your wing arms begin. The blood enzymes are produced continuously, but your healing factor is not."

"What?" I said. This better not mean that I'll soon run out of healing factor. I like that ability.

He continued, "Your healing factor glands seem to require some kind of stimulus to produce healing factor. I don't know how long it would take before more stimulus is required, but without more stimulus, it will eventually run out."

Oh no.

"However, as the glands sit right against your wing joints, it seems that moving your wings, probably flapping them, would produce enough stimulus for your glands to produce large amounts of healing factor."

That's good.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Also, there seem to be glands under all of your feathers. I am not sure what they do quite yet. Your feathers have a natural waterproof structure, allowing you to safely fly in rain. They also have a lot of oxygen in them. There are also pockets underneath your feathers that contain air. I am not sure what purpose this has, but we may soon find out. That is all that I have found about you and your mutation. Congratulations of having such a particularly astounding one!" he finished with a smile.

"Thanks, Hank. What about the whole phasing and glowing wings thing? And the colour changes?"

"That seems to be caused by pure mutant power activated by the different endorphines and hormones that accompany each emotion you have. Panic causing the colour change to clear colour and phases your wings, while happiness causes your wings to emit energy that turns into light, making them glow."

"Cool. That's it? Can I go flying again?"

"Actually," Here he stopped and went to a cupboard to get something. He brought out a round metal object that had some kind of meter on it. He continued, "I would like to test your strength. I will attach this to this wall. Please punch it as hard as you can. After it gives a reading, wait five seconds and then strike it with one of your wings. This will measure how many pounds of force you can apply to something or someone, therefore determining how strong you are."

I sighed. "Ok, then."

After he attached the device to the wall and set it up, I took a deep breath, made a fist, and punched it as hard as I could. By sheer fluke (or hopefully my mutation), I actually punched the thing properly. Usually I take "punching like a girl" to a whole new level, I'm so bad at it.

My hand hurt for about two seconds after punching it before returning to normal. Yay, healing factor!

I looked at the meter. 1,150, it said.

Hank whistled, along with a few others. "1,150 pounds of force.* That is impressive. While it is not super strength, it is the strongest any female your size can ever reach normally. Warren is as strong as the strongest male his size, so he is stronger than you, but you may very well be more agile than him, due to your smaller size. This we can test later. Please strike the device with your wing now."

"Ummm... How exactly do I do that?" I asked.

"Warren, please show her how to do it."

With that, Warren came up to the device, turned sideways a bit, drew his right wing in front of him, and struck the device powerfully with it. Most of the impact was caused by the side edge of the top section of his wing. The meter read 1,700 pounds of force. Nice.

After he stepped back, I moved forward and struck the device with my own right wing just like he did.

The meter read 1,550 pounds of force. Not bad.

"All right, Paula, that's it." He then went to get something and came back with an altimeter on a watch.

"You may fly outside now if you wish, but please take this altimeter with you. I would like to know how high you can fly. Please come back for dinner. You may also want to start unpacking."

"Ok, thanks!"

I grabbed the altimeter and put it on. I then went to go out, but then I remembered that we were underground.

"Uh, could someone open the elevator for me please?" I asked. I probably don't have clearance yet, and this is a secret basement, obviously, so one of the people here probably has to be at the elevator door to activate it.

Everyone but Hank left the lab with me. The Prof. activated the elevator again and said, "When we exit, please put your finger on the scanner pad, and I will add you to the database. This will give you clearance to go down to the subbasements whenever you wish."

"Ok."

I did as he said. The Prof then punched in a code and used his own fingerprint to verify it. The little screen then said, "Code accepted. Paula Byrns added to access list."

I then left the elevator and ran towards the door. Opening it, I ran out and jumped off the front steps and into the air.

I flew around clumsily for about five minutes before deciding to see how far I can climb into the air.

Hovering, I looked up, angled myself towards the sky, and started flapping harder than ever, causing me to zoom up into the air and shoot past the clouds.

I continued flapping until it got harder to climb. Then, I just glided a bit and looked at my altimeter. 15,000 feet. Nice. Now to see how much higher I can go if I really push myself.

After several minutes, there simply wasn't enough air under my wings for me to push, and therefore climb. This is the highest I can go. I checked my altimeter. 21,000 feet! I'll be able to go higher once my muscles strengthen more.

I headed back down.

I then realized that I had completely forgotten to use my air-sight!

As soon as I got to a decent altitude for normal flight, I glided and tried to activate my new ability.

After a few tries, I managed, but it keeps flickering on and off.

I sighed.

This was going to take some practice.

Suddenly, my inner eyelids, which had shut at a higher altitude, opened. I turned on my air-sight again and barely managed to keep it on. A blast of wind suddenly hit me, causing my inner eyelids to close again.

Hey! My air-sight is working! Note to self: turn on air-sight before closing inner eyelids. Once I figure out how to control my inner eyelids, that is.

In any case, while it's working, I wanna try it out.

The air was golden to me, so that means that my wings must be golden. The air was moving up in a constant current about 5 feet away. Updraft. I flew into it and spread my wings to soar. The updraft was warm and blew me up. I didn't even have to flap my wings. I was starting to move out of the updraft, so I flapped to stay in it. Flapping in an updraft is AWESOME! You shoot up so high, so fast, it's amazing!I really like this. Normal flying takes a lot more wing flapping that this, that's for sure!

Ah, the joys of being able to fly effortlessly in an updraft! Too bad it was dying down. I found another one behind a downdraft. I flew around the downdraft to avoid being pushed down too fast. The air was moving pretty fast.

I went from updraft to updraft for a few minutes before following some other air currents that I saw.

Then I saw Warren flying towards me out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Paula!" he called.

I carefully turned around in the air to face him and hovered.

Then I saw that he was heading straight for a quickly forming downdraft.

"Warren, downdraft 12 o'clock!" I shouted at him, nearly forgetting to flap to stay aloft.

"What? Woah!" he cried, apparently sensing the downdraft. He then flapped his wings hard in such a way that he moved backwards, away from the dangerous downdraft.

"You've got your new ability on?" he called as he hovered.

"I call it airsight, and yeah!" I replied. "By the way, the air in front of you is smooth!"

"Thanks!" he called before flying up to me. "But I'm already pretty used to the air, having been flying for several years."

"This coming from the guy who nearly got downed by a downdraft," I taunted.

"Hey, it came out of nowhere, as you may have noticed."

"Yeah, well, at least I don't see any more downdrafts forming. Hey look!" I pointed at an updraft.

"Oh, wait, you can't see that. Updraft, straight ahead!" I amended. "Come on!" I waved him over and started flying towards it.

Warren laughed as he followed me into the updraft.

As we rode it, he said, "I'm glad to see you love flying so much. Sometimes I think only us winged fliers truly enjoy it."

"Not arguing with you there, dude, wings definitely make things a lot more interesting up here. You actually need to put some effort into it. Something about that just makes it so exhilarating!"

"Yeah, I know."

We just flew together for a while after that. Then a question popped into my mind.

"Hey, Warren?"

"Hmm?"

"After flying for so many years, do you ever get used to flying?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does it ever lose... that feeling when you first flew and marvelled at your newfound ability?"

He thought about it a bit.

"Well... it does feel more natural after a while, especially after you have full control of yourself in the air... but I don't think it ever really loses it amazingness. Though, I guess I have become used to being able to fly and take it for granted sometimes... I mean, I don't exactly always fly for fun, you know. I fly to get places, and it's then that I don't really notice that I'm doing anything different from anyone else. But when I do fly to relax or just for the heck of it, my focus is on my flying and just how amazing it is. Does that answer your question?"

I thought about it. "I guess. Seems like you do get used to it. I guess what I was trying to ask was if it ever stopped feeling so special."

"I guess the feeling does diminish over the years, but it's just as fun."

"Hmph. Then I better get as much airtime as possible before it does."

"Don't worry about it. Anyways, have you tried out the altimeter yet?"

"Yeah! 15,000 feet for easy flight, and 21,000 if I really push myself!"

"Hmm. That's pretty good. You'll get better as you practice. I can make 29,000 feet at most."

"Well, I want to see who's faster. Race you to that cloud!" I said, pointing and taking off.

"Hey, no fair! Wait for me!" Warren called before chasing after me.

We reached the cloud around the same time. I had a head start, so I got there first.

"Well, that answers _that _question." I said.

"You know, you're pretty good for your first day." said Warren.

"Well, I'm only flying straight, ya know. That's easy. I just have to flap my wings. Turning is the hard part," I replied. "And landing."

He looked at me amusedly and chuckled. "You can't turn? Is that what Bobby was laughing his butt off about when you tried flying down the stairs and went out the door?"

"I can turn," I said indignantly, noting that the air and my wings turned red-orange and pink at my annoyance and embarrasement. "You've seen me do it. I'm just not very good at it and have the tendency to flip and freak out sometimes."

"So it WAS what Bobby was laughing about!" he laughed.

"HEY! So what if I flip, phase my wings, and fall every so often. I haven't crashed yet."

He kept laughing. I growled.

I was surprised to hear my growl come out sounding like a bird's annoyed growl-chirp thing.

Oh for...

Man, Sam was right. I AM turning into a bird! Only thing left is a beak and tail! And talons. Oh, please no. A tail would be okay, but a beak?

Maybe it's a good sign that my wings come from my back instead of being my arms.

Warren raised an eyebrow at me and laughed harder. For a second or so, he nearly fell out of the air, he was laughing so hard.

"What?" I said indignantly. "A person can walk into the mansion with blue fur, a tail, or wings, floating, flying, or running on all fours, and nobody even looks twice, but one birdlike growl-chirp thing and you raise an eyebrow?"

"Sorry, didn't expect that."

"I'm surprised."

"Anyways... I could help you get the feel of turning if you want."

"Really? How?"

"Just glide and don't panic. I'm going to come behind you, grab your wing arms, and turn, okay?"

"All right, then. Be gentle."

"Don't worry. I will be."

And with that, he flapped once and disappeared into the sky.

I glided and waited.

I managed not to panic when he came up behind me and grabbed my wing arms.

It may have helped that I noticed a disturbance in the air caused by his movement so close to me. It looked like ocean ripples in the air around me. Interesting.

He turned left, pulling me along with him. He gently moved my wing arms in a way that also moved my wings when I cooperated. Which I always did. I DO want to learn how to fly right, ya know.

He turned us around in circles, changing direction every so often.

We must have spent at least half an hour doing that.

I gradually got more and more used to turning and even sometimes managed to move my wings the right way before Warren could. I felt proud of myself in those moments.

I'll still need lots of practice to master the darn thing, though. Oh well. Give it a month or so.

He landed and went inside, while I practiced some more. Then I decided that I better unpack.

I really didn't want to use my feet yet to climb the stairs, so I acted on my previous idea and flew to the balcony of my new room. I opened the door and went inside. Then, I started unpacking.

I opened up all the drawers of my dressers and started putting my clothes inside.

I then took out all my games and books and arranged them nicely on my desk and the top of my shorter dresser.

Just as I finished, I heard Jean call in my head (and apparently everyone else's too), "_Dinner's ready, everyone!_"

It's a good thing I wasn't in midflight. I got a bit startled and jumped. I recovered quickly.

I picked up the feather that fell off.

I went to my balcony again, hopped onto the railing with the help of my wings, and pushed off, arms out in front of me as I launched.

I then flapped once and started gliding down to the front door.

Hey, if they won't let me fly up and down the stairs, I'll use the air outside instead.

I landed in front of the closed door and found it locked.

I think someone may have heard that mental comment.

I knocked on the door loudly.

When noone answered for a few seconds, I loudly thought, "_Jean! I know you can hear me! Could you please open this door?_"

In reponse, I heard her say in my mind, "_You could have used the stairs, you know._"

Feathers ruffling and turning reddish orange, I thought back, "_Well, you won't let me fly down the stairs, so..._"

_You could have just walked down the stairs?_

_Have you even bothered to learn why I don't want to do that?_

After a pause, in which I assumed she read my mind, she said, "_Oh, I didn't realize that. Sorry. I'll let you in now._"

I heard the lock click open, so I turned the doorknob and opened the door.

_Thank you very much_, I thought.

See, when I walk normally, my wings tend to bob up and down every time I take a step.

This is not exactly the most pleasant thing ever. Walking down the stairs would make them bob harder. I should know.

When my wings were trapped under a shirt this morning, and I went down the stairs, I only could stand it because my wings were phased and didn't bob so hard for the last half of the climb.

Regardless, my back was a bit sore after all that bouncing around.

And I'm not used to sheathing my wings and keeping them like that. Also, even sheathed wings shift around a lot when walking.

It's bearable, but only on flat ground.

Let's just say I hate stairs.

Holding my wings still takes some concentration and feels weird.

If I walk and try to hold them still, I end up practically throwing my shoulders forward with the wings, which looks a bit silly. Like strutting. I still like the wings, though. 'Cause I can fly with them, duh.

I smelled dinner immediately. Mmm... Smells good!

I followed the smell and found the kitchen and the dining room.

Ooh, mashed potatoes, green peas, and the juiciest beef I have ever seen! Mmm...

Oh, I'll eat almost anything and like it, but this is a really good food mix.

There are few foods I actually don't like. Like mint and cold cuts. And licorice.

I saw a new face at the table. A Native American looking guy.

"This is Forge, Paula." said the Prof.

We said hi to each other, and I sat down at an empty seat between Kitty and Jean.

They explained to me the rules, such as the fact that we all take turns doing chores. I'm new, so I'm exempt for a week. We all talked about random things, when Bobby finally asked the _one_ question I hate answering.

"So when's your birthday?"

...

"...July 4th."

"Independance Day?"

"Yeah. Tough to have a birthday around that time. Nobody can come. Even though I didn't have any real friends other than Sam, I still ended up inviting most of my class to my parties... like three weeks ahead... I hate it when people ask me that question."

"Sorry."

Then came all the questions and comments about how cool that is and me commenting that it's not cool that I can never celebrate my birthday anywhere near to the real date...

When we finished, I went outside and flew to my room again, then plonked myself down on the bed and tried to figure out how to lie down.

I tried sheathing my wings and lying on my back. That was okay, but it felt sort of funny. I took them out again and tried lying on them. That sort of hurt. I ended up lying on my right side with one wing adjusted under me and the other flopped over me. That was perfect.

I then closed my eyes and reflected on how flying feels.

Flying is amazing! I love the feel of air under my wings, the wind in my face and the currents washing over and through my feathers. My dream has definitely come true. I've always wanted to fly. The obsession started a couple of months ago, but I've always been interested in it. And now, I can, And I love it.

Flying straight is the easiest thing ever. Turning takes care to avoid flipping in midair and losing control. Other maneuvers I'd rather not try quite yet. They're bound to be hard. But seriously, flying straight just requires me to flap my wings.

Which is why I just love to fly like that. Too bad I have to turn at some point, or I won't get back to the mansion without landing.

You would think that gliding is easier, but you really need to know how to balance in the air, or you flip. I prefer flapping.

Oh, I forgot to call Sam!

I got up and picked up the phone.

When she answered, I started with code.

"Hey, Sam. The eagle has flown and landed. And had a heck of a lot of fun doing it!"

"We don't need to use code now. Coast is clear!"

"Oh, I just had to say that, I'm sorry."

"It's all cool. So how was it?"

I proceeded to explain to her everything.

"Wow," she responded after I finished, "you are SO lucky! Now I wish _I_ could fly..."

"When I can lift people, I'll take you on a flight. Sound good?"

"Ooh, that sounds so exciting! I can't wait! You practice long and hard, missy, 'cause I wanna fly too!"

I laughed. "All righty, then. We'll have to figure out how to explain the trip to your parents."

"Yeah."

We spent some time discussing that, then another few hours were spent talking about everything else.

Finally, it was 11 PM, and we were both tired, so we said goodbye to each other and hung up.

I went through my nightly routine before changing. I took some time naked to stretch my wings and marvel at the fact that this is real and that I really have two wings as part of my body.

After struggling with my pajamas, I got into bed in my newfound comfy position and closed my eyes, thinking of flight.

And with that, I fell asleep, curled up under the covers with my head under my wing. My goodness...

X-X-X

*If anyone can give me better numbers here, it would really help a lot and would be very appreciated. The Internet is almost useless for finding the strongest punching strength of anyone, let alone that of a woman. Apparently, a professional boxer can punch with about 1,250 or 1,290 pounds of force.

A/N: Finally! Finished! It's a bit rushed, so sorry if it's not too descriptive.

Can't believe I finally finished this chapter...

Keep up the good reviews! Remember, no flaming please! Excitement should start maybe around chapter 7. Oh, and I fixed up the previous chapters and changed something. And I got rid of the lyrics in the last chapter. And this story is taking place in a universe I made up because I don't know enough about the original one timelinewise to properly write it. Also, the characters might seem a bit different. That's sometimes on purpose. I try to keep things as close to the original as possible... However, the telepaths are going to be more liberal in their use of telepathy than usual. It'll make things more interesting, I think. (no pun intended).


	6. Surprises and Capture

A/N: I am on a roll here! Sorry if it's lacking in description; I tried fixing that problem this time around...

* * *

I woke up in a daze and jumped straight upright upon seeing feathers lying over my eyes.

It took me about a minute of being stunned to remember what happened, and I felt happy all over again, ecstatic that it wasn't all a dream!

Then I noticed something.

The feathers from earlier were now on the floor.

I slowly turned my head to look at my wings.

What I saw woke up the entire mansion with my scream.

Since Jean's room was right across from mine, she arrived first, albeit still wincing in pain (I had stopped screaming after a minute).

"What's wrong?" she asked.

I spread my wings out.

"Oh my!" she gasped. "What happened?"

My feathers had all fallen off.

Hence the panic, yet my wings stayed solid and golden for some reason. Turns out my wing skin is golden under the feathers.

"I don't know! I woke up like this!" I answered.

It was at that precise moment that everyone else in the mansion, even Forge, burst into my room.

Logan came first with his claws out and a mean look on his face. When he saw my terrified look and naked wings, he calmed down and retracted his claws.

The Prof rolled in after that, followed by Hank and everyone else.

Hank, upon seeing my naked wings, was the first (along with Warren) to come to me and examine them.

"Well this is new." said Warren.

"Ya _THINK!_ This is a problem!" I screamed in his ear, causing him to flinch and back off. I also was pointing at my wings with my thumb.

"Hmm..." Hank murmured. "Let's get you down to the lab and see if we can figure this out, all right?"

I was ready to agree to anything if there was a chance at getting my feathers back. I'm pretty sure flight can't occur with my type of wings if there are no feathers.

"Ok." I said shakily and followed the group down.

Once in the lab, Hank sat me down, picked up a wing and a magnifying glass, and started examining it. Then he picked up some kind of scanner and used it on the wing he was holding delicately in his claws.

Then he dropped the wing, put down the scanner thing, and looked pensive for a moment.

"Good news," he said. "There are new feathers underneath your skin. There are tiny muscles around each feather. You will have to figure out how to use them. This is a very interesting mutation..."

"So I should be able to push out the new feathers?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes. I believe that your wings discarded them to prepare for newer feathers, which means that if you can learn to shed and regrow your feathers at will, you will never need to maintain your feathers."

I sighed in relief. "But how would I maintain them before?"

"Warren uses feather combs, and I can give you a few before you return upstairs."

"All right, thanks. Any explanation for why my wings lose their powers when there are no feathers?"

"You have no powers now?"

"Have you once seen my wings change colour since this incident?"

"I suppose not. Hmm... Interesting... I would surmise that your powers are connected to your feathers. Likely, your feathers are the source of your powers, but only when exposed to air. An interesting mutation indeed."

"I'm just glad that there's feathers under there that'll come out one way or another."

"All right. But I'd like to see if you can fly. Stiffen your wings and try to hover."

I did and stayed up for a second or two before falling back down, and that was with my wings flapping a hundred miles an hour, practically. I panted for a bit.

"I guess that means that I can at least slow myself down if my feathers fall of in midair and I need to land without dying." I said.

"That's one way to put it, I suppose. All right then, up you go. Have some breakfast before trying to free your new feathers."

"All right. Thanks for the good news."

"No problem."

And with that, the rest of us went upstairs.

I made myself a peanut butter sandwich when I got to the kitchen. Then everyone was going various places in the kitchen making their own breakfasts.

When I finished the sandwich and some milk, I was still hungry, so I grabbed a banana.

I ended up eating a whole bowl of fruit, another peanut butter sandwich, five boxes of raisins, and drinking a whole carton of milk before finally feeling full. I saw Kurt eating a similar amount and Warren eating a little less. High metabolisms taking effect, I guess.

After a few minutes, I went up to Warren and asked, "Can you move your feathers?"

"Yeah, a bit. Why?"

"I'd like you to help me get the feeling of my feathers down pat so I can take them out and fly again."

"I can sympathize with you, so sure. Let's go outside."

I agreed, so we did.

"All right," said Warren. "Spread your wings and feel them first."

I did, flapping them a couple of times to emphasize that I could.

"Next, I'll touch your wings in some spots. Try to feel the individual muscles around the area I touch.

I did. It took about an hour for me to get some feeling and movement out of the muscles. Once I got one bunch of muscles figured out, the rest were easier, but still tricky, especially around the edges of my wings.

"Now try pushing each feather out."

I did. Since the middle of my wings seem to have the most control, along with the wing arms, I started with those. I picked the easiest spot I could feel and tried to push. It took another hour to figure that one out. By then, the other feathers were pushing _themselves _out. I guess that's another part of all this craziness.

By the time lunch was ready, my feathers had all come back on their own, but not before I managed to push out a small handful of feathers myself. I'm so proud of myself.

After lunch, Warren and I flew together and got me practicing my air-sight. Still can't keep it on properly. After a few hours of that, we landed and worked on pushing my feathers out again. By suppertime, I had a small patch on my right wing that was new feathers.

After supper, I practiced by myself outside.

Next thing I know, there are two groups on the main laws fighting each other. One group was led by a man with a bucket-like red helmet on, while the other was led by a blonde woman in white.

A catlike woman was fighting a guy with a long tongue, some pink suited guy was fighting a blue and white speedster, two women were flinging red bolts and disks at each other, the blond leader of the one team was staring at an ugly looking guy in a cape, and the flying Buckethead was shielding himself against some electricity coming from another guy. Anything else was hard to see amonst all the flying bodies, earth, and energy.

I was hiding under the stairs at this point when all the manstion people came out in uniforms and joined the fight. It really sucks not being able to do anything or knowing what's going on.

Maybe I _should _try out this superhero thing. Still, now is not the time to test out my new abilities, mainly since none of them are real fighting abilities and I don't know how to fight.

More flying bodies and energy and everything else later, the guy in the cape that was staring at blondie collapsed and blondie threw a flashbang in the direction of the Prof and Jean. When the light cleared, everyone but blondie's team and Buckethead had collapsed as well. Buckethead collapsed a second later after electric guy's bolt finally hit him.

Then Blondie turned to look right at me, even though I was hiding. Must be a telepath, then.

_Why yes, Paula, I am. And now you are mine! _came what I presumed to be her voice in my head before a searing pain ripped through my mind.

I blacked out.

* * *

A/N: Well now the real excitement starts! Onward to the next chapter! That is, when I finish it... Review! But not about the plot quite yet. I just want to know if there was enough description and/or dialogue this time around. I'm working on my writing style before plot skills for now.


	7. Kidnapped and Rescue

A/N: And we're off! Hopefully this chapter is starting to get interesting for you guys.

* * *

I woke up in a bed. After an initial moment of fuzziness, memories came to me.

I was recruited by Emma Frost to the Massachussetts Academy after she came to my parents and explained to them that I was a mutant and that my wings were nothing to worry about. I was now with a group she calls the Hellions who train to use their powers to their full potential. We all go by codenames here, but I haven't chosen one yet and nobody has any good ideas. I'm friends with Beef, Bevatron, Catseye, Empath, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot, and Thunderbird. We've been training for a week so far. I can finally pop off and regrow my feathers at will, but I'm still working on the air-sight. My flying is improving. Emma is a strict, but ok teacher. I love being on the team.

I saw Emma come over.

"So you're finally awake, Paula. Get ready and meet in the Training Room with the others, all right?" she said.

"Yes, Miss Frost." I replied dizzily.

"Are you feeling all right?" asked Emma, tilting her head to one side.

"Just tired. Don't worry. And shouldn't you know anyways? You ARE a telepath after all."

"Just checking. Honesty is the best policy, especially around a telepath."

"Wouldn't dream of lying to you, Miss Frost."

"No you wouldn't. All right then, come on."

"All right, all right."

I got up and got ready. For a second, my clothes looked unfamiliar, but the next second they seemed fine.

Whatever.

I made it to training, but the others looked for a second like I was new. Whatever.

I flew up and flicked on my air-sight, finally managing to get it going.

Then my mind felt like it was being ripped apart and everything came back to me.

I nearly fell out of the air, but managed to hover in time and land clumsily.

I realized that I had a week's worth of false memories, which were now fuzzy at best, and remembered all of the past couple days' events.

The last thing I really remember is the blonde telepath, Emma Frost, telling me that I was hers in my head, feeling a piercing pain in my mind, and blacking out. I must have been kidnapped and mind-wiped!

Just as I realized this, Emma came bursting in. I felt a large ram of mental energy bounce off of my mind with no effect. I still had my air-sight on. I suppose as a side effect of the false memories is that I have psychically enhanced skills to complete the illusion.

An angry look crossed Emma's face, and suddenly Bevatron zapped me.

I blacked out again.

When I came to, I was tied up to a wall in a dungeon surrounded by the Hellions and Emma.

"Now what to do with you..." murmured Emma. "Your air-sight is instincual in a way, and I can't stop it, as I've tried. I can't give you back to the X-Men, or they'll find out where we are again. And I can't control you. And there's no hope of you trusting me anytime soon."

"Why don't you just suck it up and give me back to Xavier?" I snarled, my wings turning red and warming up in anger.

Suddenly, my feathers caught fire!

I instantly panicked, making the fire go out and making my wings phase.

It took me a minute to realize that the fire didn't hurt me, and then I relaxed, solidifying my wings again.

Then I went back to being pissed off at all of this being kidnapped and tied up thing, and my wings caught fire again.

After Emma recovered from the new power display, she said, "Well, I was thinking of killing you, but now I'm sure that you can't be allowed to leave."

At this, for some reason I got more pissed off. Something started welling up inside my chest and came out as a screech that sounded like a human scream mixed with every single bird of prey's cry as well, mostly bird.

"KYAAAAARRR!"

Instantly Catseye winced and Emma and Empath screamed, clutching their heads.

I was surprised. It wasn't a particularly loud screech, just high pitched.

I snarled.

"Empath, calm her down!" Emma yelled.

Suddenly, a wave of something bounced off my mind.

"I can't!" said Empath.

"Damn it!" grunted Emma. "Damn anti-telepathy. At least I can still read her mind, though that doesn't do much. She doesn't know anything we want to know!"

"Any reason you're not telling them all this telepathically?" I asked.

"Because it still hurts after you so kindly screeched it off." she replied.

Nice. Anti-telepathy screech.

I smirked.

A look of Uh-oh crossed the afflicted people's faces.

Let's see. Angry screech equals power screech. So...

A few minutes passed of me and the Hellions and Emma arguing about what to do and threats from me about screeching and other people pointing out that it didn't affect them and stuff.

Then we all heard the sound of a jet.

My hopes rose and were fulfilled as the whole mansion team flooded in seconds later after Scott blasted a hole in the wall.

A short scuffle later, Emma and the Hellions were defeated and I was released.

"How did you guys find me?" I asked on the jet.

The Prof answered. "There was telepathic interference until a few minutes ago when I could get a lock on you with Cerebro, my telepathy-enhancing device."

"Cool."

I then got to learn all the codenames of the mansion team. I think Marvel Girl sounds funny. That's Jean. They're all called the X-Men.

I told them all that happened.

Beast said, "Hmm... It seems like those glands under your feathers likely produce some sort of flammable substance while your feathers with enough anger spark and set the fire going. And you have a screech which temporarily disables telepathy. And a mental shield when your air-sight is on."

"Wow." was all I could say.

Some discussion later, we landed.

* * *

A/N: Review please! And I know some of this might make not much sense, but I ran out of ideas trying to reveal these abilities. The abilities are to make her somewhat useful in fights.

I would also appreciate tips on how to make better plots and fight scenes.


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